Black+White Photography Magazine has launched the Black + White Photographer of the Year 2012 competition. Now in its seventh year, the contest offers five categories across the genres with the chance to win cash prizes plus copies of the book, Magnum Contact Sheets Special Edition worth £325. The overall winner will receive a Leica M Monochrom (pictured) complete with a Leica Summicron-M 35mm f/2 lens. The closing date for entries is 23rd September. The winning entries will be exhibited at Leica Mayfair, London, following an awards night in November. For more information visit the website below.

The search for the Black + White Photographer of the Year is on! And this year we have teamed up with Leica to offer the overall winner a fabulous prize – the world’s first digital camera with a black & white only sensor. The Leica M Monochrom comes with a Summicron-M 35mm f/2 lens, together worth over £8,000.

Now in its seventh year, the Black+White Photographer of the Year has become a hugely successful international competition, with entries coming in from all over the world. With the increasing popularity of black & white photography – and such a fabulous prize – we expect a record number of submissions this year. The competition offers five categories across the genres with the chance to win cash prizes plus the magnificent new book from Magnum, Magnum Contact Sheets Special Edition worth £325.

Editor of Black + White Photography, Elizabeth Roberts, says: ‘This is a fabulous opportunity for a photographer to achieve worldwide recognition – and to own one of the most sought after cameras in the world.’ The winning entries will be exhibited at Leica Mayfair, London, following an awards night in November. The exhibition will then be on show at theprintspace, also in London, throughout December.